Eumundi

Eumundi, a rural village in hilly country around the upper reaches of the North Maroochy River, is 15 km inland from Peregian Beach and 110 km north of central Brisbane. It was named after an Aboriginal elder who reputedly adopted a convict runaway, David Bracefield (or Bracewell, Bracefell) in the early 1830s.

Eumundi was a timber harvesting area, and a small European settlement emerged in the 1880s. The North Coast railway was completed in 1891, and a sawmill was opened soon afterwards. With the clearing of the timber, dairying and banana growing filled the hillsides, but several sawmillers continued. Pugh's Queensland directory recorded Eumundi as having two hotels, a butter factory, several storekeepers and two banks in 1925. There were also a Methodist church (1911), an Anglican church (1912) and a school of arts (1912), which are both listed on the Queensland heritage register.

By the 1960s many dairy and banana farms became uneconomic, and the holdings were taken up by people seeking rural lifestyles. The township attracted new residents who refurbished numerous buildings. In 1979 the Eumundi open-air Saturday market was started, selling fresh produce and hand-made or specialty wares. It has been highly popular, drawing tourists and groups brought by bus. Eumundi has developed an active commercial town centre with a local chamber of commerce.

In addition to the Saturday (and Wednesday) market there are school of arts and CWA halls, Anglican and Presbyterian churches, a museum and historical society, primary school (1893), a showground and a recreation reserve. The heritage-listed butter factory was burnt down in 2005. Eumundi's main street is Memorial Drive, along which there is a heritage-listed row of war memorial trees (1914-18) in the vicinity of the school of arts. In 2012 residents celebrated the school of arts hall's centenary of continuous use.

Eumundi's census populations, which since 2006 have taken in surrounding rural/residential districts, have been:

Census Date

Population

1901

112

1911

446

1933

709

1966

379

1986

354

2001

455

2006

1836

2011

1924

Hessie Lindsell, Eumundi story: a collection of stories on the history of Eumundi, Noosa, H. Lindsell, 1989